Identifying Retrofit Technology to Improve Building Energy Performance: A Review

Retrofitting an existing building is one of the environmentally friendly solutions to reduce the dependency on constructing new buildings. There are huge numbers of existing building stocks that are suitable to be retrofitted such as historical buildings, offices, residential, warehouse, factories, vacant buildings and other historical buildings. However the retrofit process is still confronted by technical and social challenges. So we need to know how to make the best use of the public buildings in Egypt in sustainable way. In light of the anticipated relocation of the ministerial authorities to the New Capital city, more than 40 public administrative buildings in Cairo will be vacated and subjected to adaptive re-use plans. However, the available literature does not effectively help in terms of selecting the best retrofit techniques because energy efficient retrofitting is neither required nor widely practiced in Egypt. This paper presents a systematic approach to selecting and identifying the best retrofit alternatives for existing buildings. The generic building retrofitting problem and key issues involved in building retrofit investment decisions are outlined. There is also an overview of the research and development, as well as technologies of retrofit in existing buildings. This paper provides building practitioners and researchers a better understanding of how to undertake an efficient building retrofit to enhance energy conservation and sustainability. Furthermore, it highlights the significance of Building Information Modeling as a part of the retrofitting process.